Definition: Neonatal Sepsis

Explanation: Early acquired infection may cause severe illness or death in the neonatal period. Prompt treatment with antibiotics immunoglobulin IgM have shown to reduce mortality. Neonatal sepsis, sepsis neonatorum, and neonatal septicemia are terms that have been used to describe the systemic response to infection in newborn infants. The term systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) is used to describe a clinical syndrome characterized by two or more of the following: (a) fever or hypothermia, (b) tachycardia, (c) tachypnea or hyperventilation, and (d) abnormal white blood cells or increase in immature forms.